


Back Rooms

by FortyninePalm



Category: Heaven's Vault (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-18
Updated: 2020-01-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:28:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22298605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FortyninePalm/pseuds/FortyninePalm
Summary: On Elboreth, an orphan learns to steal from Ioxian ships and gets drawn into more intrigues than he had planned.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 6





	Back Rooms

NOW

It's always loud in the yard of Mastuf's bar, but Tej thinks it's the good kind of loud. Loud with stories and boasting and raqi-fuelled laughter. Loud enough to drown out the other sounds of Godsfeet, the incessant shouting, coughing and crying that came through the thin walls of the teetering shacks, the sounds of thousands of people miserably piled on top of each other. 

Someone else is behind the bar tonight. Mastuf himself walks through the yard, short and round, and the crowd flows around him like Tej imagines a ship on the rivers. He pats someone on the back, shares a laugh there, gives an order with a grin. The bar, and the yard, are Mastuf’s own turf. The crews all glare at each other, but Mastuf won't let anything worse than a bumped shoulder happen here.

And then Mastuf is there with Tej's crew. He nods to Lath, their chief, but it's Tej he claps on the back. He presses a glass into his hand, and the cold feels good in the humid night. 

"I heard my boy Tej did good again!" Mastuf booms. "He uses his head and his heart, not just his hands and feet like the rest of you lot," and everyone laughs. "Here, drink up, that's the good stuff."

Tej drinks the shot, and it really is the good stuff, but he makes a show of coughing anyway and everyone laughs again. Tej smiles. The raqi rushes to his head, and for a moment Tej feels as good as he ever has. 

"Come with me," Mastuf claps him on the back again. "I want to show you something."

10 HOURS AGO

The ship that landed that morning was a four-sailer, and only robots came down the ramp to keep watch as the droppers rushed out and spread their crinkly tarps to capture droplets of riverwater that still clung to the hull. Robot-crewed ships were harder to work, people said. Robots couldn't be distracted with fights or flirting or even bribes. Most crews didn't bother with them.

Tej knew better, though. Robots were slow, and their tracks were loud. You could hear them coming from a long way off. Tej was small and fast and quiet. Even if the robots saw him, they wouldn't be able to catch him.

The robots never saw him. He went during the day, when the Catkis Gate was at its most crowded. He walked quickly, wearing a dirty tunic a size too large, a burlap bundle already in his hands. Just another Elborethian rat going who-knows-where. 

Tej got right by one of the ship's folded sails before he ducked down under it. He ran low against the wooden hull, until he got to the ramp that led into the dark interior of the hold. Even on solid ground, the hull creaked, but Tej could hear there were no robots inside. 

Soon he was out again, the burlap bundle heavy now. Eyes downcast once more, he walked by one of the robots. The glow of its bland, projected face looked right at him, but it didn't seem to see him at all.

NOW

Tej has been in Mastuf's back room only twice before, neither time with permission. Timor is waiting for them. He's only a few years older than Tej, but he isn't with any crew; he works for Mastuf personally. Tej has always liked him. He has kind eyes, a rarity in Godsfeet. 

Now Timor reaches up, to one of the shelves that line the wall along with vats of raqi and jars of pickled vegetables, and pulls down a burlap bundle. The raqi is hitting now and Tej's eyes take a moment to focus before he recognizes it as his bundle. The one he brought down from the ship.

"Did you look at it?" Timor asks.

Tej shakes his head. "I didn't have time," he says honestly.

Timor unwraps the bundle. Tej is surprised to see that it's a bowl: thick and heavy, and somehow Tej knows it's old, maybe older than anything he's ever seen.

"It's beautiful," he says and means it. 

"And valuable," Mastuf says. "You could buy a room with this," and he jerks his head up -- a room up there in the Citadel, he means. "You could buy water for a half-year." 

"Is that writing on it?" Tej asks.

Timor nods. "Ancient, they say," Mastuf adds.

Tej reaches out to touch it, but something in Timor's eyes makes him stay his hand. Timor wraps the bowl up carefully. 

"We deserve a cut," Tej says boldly, louder than he intended to.

"My friend in the Citadel won't take it," Mastuf shakes his head. "Just last month, the Guard came into his shop. They were looking for a cup with Ancient written on it too. Do you know where it came from?"

Tej's mouth goes dry. His vision is still swimming but behind his eyes he's suddenly sober.

"Where did the bowl come from, Tej?" Mastuf asks quietly.

9 HOURS AGO

The light that filtered into the ship from the small round portholes along the hull had a blueish tinge. Crates were stacked high against the hull, held in place with nets of thick rope, but the lane down the middle of the ship was clear, and wide enough for two robots to roll side by side. Tej walked along slowly, careful not to make a sound. Sometimes he liked to think back to the ships, imagine how they must feel leaping into the sky, sailing along the rivers, but now was not the moment.

The Ioxian was waiting at the farthest point, sitting on a small stool between two winches wound tightly with ropes that vanished into the hull.

"Come in, boy," the Ioxian said. "You don't have much time. Why don't you tell me what your King of Thieves has been up to?"

NOW

"What do you mean," Tej asks, hoping he's keeping his calm. "I got it from the ship. You can ask Lath, everyone was keeping watch."

Timor looks at Tej with his kind eyes. "Don't worry," he says. "We want to help you."

"But you need to help us,” Mastuf says. “Haven't I always helped you, my boy?"

Tej isn't sure what they know, what they suspect, so he can't think of what lie to tell. Mastuf has never hurt him, and he's never seen Timor hurt anyone. But he feels the pit in his stomach he felt when his father died, then his mother. The cold certainty that his life is crumbling away. 

The knife at the small of his back is in his hand before he knows it, and Mastuf holds his arms out wide, placating, like Tej has got him and now they can really negotiate like men, but Tej keeps moving and he sees the shock bloom in Mastuf's eyes as the knife slashes across his belly.

And Tej is running. Out the door, and the thud from the back room lets him know that they won't be chasing him. As he runs out into the dirty alley, Tej has a sudden feeling of deep regret, like a memory of sleepless, guilt-ridden nights yet to come. And then the canvas awning is gone and above him the rivers are glowing foam-blue in the night sky, and Tej knows where to go.

10 WEEKS AGO

"The robots told me about you."

The Ioxian had been waiting at the back of the ship then too. Tej had been so careful looking for robots, but he hadn't noticed him until he spoke up. 

"It _is_ you, right? The same boy who's been stealing from our ships for the past months? Waters above, tell me there aren't more of you," the Ioxian added with an arrogant chuckle. His face was hidden in shadows, but Tej could see that it was round and pale, and his accent was unmistakable.

There were a good few paces between him and the man, and he was all but certain there was no robot to bar the ramp. He could run. But as much as the man's tone grated, he didn't think he needed to. Not just yet.

"I could summon the Guard," the Ioxian added. "What is it they do to thieves on this moon? Take a hand, is it?" he made a slicing motion in the air and shook his head, as if the thought was distasteful.

"You could summon the Guard, and wait for them to show up in the goddess's own time," Tej shot back.

The Ioxian nodded, as if acknowledging the point. "Well, we know your face now. Your days of thieving are over. Thieving from Iox, anyway."

"Unless?" Tej tried to make his voice bold.

"Excuse me?"

"You wouldn't be talking to me if there wasn't an unless."

"The robots were right about you," the Ioxian nodded to himself again. "You're right. You can thieve all you want. Well, some anyway. If you tell us about Mastuf. He's the _kisreth_ now, isn't he?" the man pronounced the patois like he was working a hard bitter seed stuck between his teeth. 

"That's it?"

"That's it," the man said agreeably. "All we want is information."

"Why?" Tej asked. "You already know who he is."

"We're the Protectorate," he answered. "We need to know who it is we're protecting. And who it is we're protecting them from."

NOW

The ship is still on the landing field when Tej makes it there. One robot is at the end of the ramp. "Stop!" it calls out, and its treads come to life faster than Tej expects, but it isn't fast enough and Tej runs past it and up the ramp before bending over and breathing in long hacking lungfuls of air.

All around him robots whir awake, their identical blue faces looking blandly curious. The Ioxian seems to have been sleeping on a hammock, but he swings his feet to the deck and blinks at Tej.

"What are you doing here?"

"Please," Tej says. "Take me with you. I need to get out of here."

"Boy," the Ioxian says. "What have you done?"

"Mastuf is dead," Tej says, wondering as he says it whether it's really true.

"And you killed him? You did, did you? Nobody asked you to do _that_."

"He was the King of Thieves," Tej says. "You should be glad."

"You know there will only be another one, and succession struggles are always unpredictable and ugly," the Ioxian seems about to say more, then catches himself. "In any case, you’re not my problem. I'm sorry, boy," he says. "Maybe go back, see if you can make yourself the new _kisreth_. We can certainly work with you then," he adds, as if warming to the idea. 

He waves a hand at the robots, and their tracks whir to life. "Please!" Tej has time to cry out, and then one of the robots lifts a hand, and there's a flash of lightning, and the Ioxian crumples to the ground. 

14 WEEKS AGO

The ship that landed that morning was a four-sailer, and only robots came down the ramp to keep watch as the droppers rushed out and spread their crinkly tarps to capture droplets of riverwater that still clung to the hull. Robot-crewed ships were harder to work, people said. But Tej already knew what he was doing.

The ship was packed lighter than usual, and Tej crept deeper into the hold to find a crate that the robots had already opened. This one was filled with fine Ioxian fabrics that he knew Mastuf could get a good price for. Tej grabbed the top bolt, wrapped it in his burlap, and turned to go.

There was a robot on the ramp. It shouldn't have been there. Tej should have heard it coming. Would have heard it coming. But there it was. 

The robot looked at him, and its projected face started to form an exaggerated frown. And then the face disappeared. The robot looked suddenly, unnervingly, just like a piece of machinery. Uncertainly, Tej took a step back, into the interior of the ship. He wondered if he should run.

"Do you desire the fall of Iox?" 

The voice had come from inside the robot. Tej would wonder about this, later. Later, too, he would learn that Iox had fallen before, that despite having all of the water and all of the robots and all of the ships, perhaps it could happen again. But at the time the answer came from somewhere deep inside. "Yes," he answered and flinched, expecting the robot to kill him on the spot for treason.

"Be ready," the voice said. And then, still headless, the robot whirred silently back, and Tej ran.

NOW

One robot picks up the Ioxian's body and carries it towards the Catkis Gate. The other robots extend their arms and start to unwind ropes, pull cables, tie down crates, and do other things that Tej imagines must prepare the ship to launch.

"What happened?" Tej asks, not expecting an answer.

"Master Ortolan was killed on Elboreth by thieves," one of the robots says. "Before he died, he chose you to go to Iox. To study at the university, and then become an agent of the Protectorate, like he had once done."

"I thought robots weren't allowed to lie," Tej says. He doesn't know why. He ought to accept his good fortune, not question it. Or he ought to run. "I thought robots weren't allowed to hurt people."

The robot returns, the body of the Ioxian -- Ortolan -- nowhere to be seen.

"Our ethical cores do not value his life over yours," one robot says.

"Master Ortolan was not our primary user," another robot adds.

"Please sit down, Master Tej," a third robot adds. "And hold onto something."

Dazed, Tej sits on the stool where he used to see Ortolan sitting. He holds onto a nearby beam.

And the ship springs up into the water.

**Author's Note:**

> I finished Heaven's Vault and wanted a chance to spend more time in the Nebula. I loved the hints of intrigue and conspiracies that are never fully resolved, and that's what I was trying to capture here.
> 
> Feedback welcome!


End file.
